SUPPLY. (Hansard, 30 July 1838)

§ Colonel Sibthorp

rose to move for a Select Committee to inquire into the various commissions that have been issued since 1830 to the present time, or period, at which the above return may be dated. When he looked to the incomplete returns before the House, so unsatisfactory to the public, and so difficult to comprehend, and in which there was no just grounds assigned for the several commissions to which they referred, he felt, that in moving for a Select Committee, he was only discharging a public duty. Commission after commission, had been extended at an expense to the country of upwards of 2,000,000l. With regard to the record commission, which had been appointed in 1800, and which, in itself, has cost nearly 1,000,000l., they were still in the same darkness and difficulty as to what additional amount would be required for taking care of those records. [Lord J. Russell: "That Committee has expired."] In 1836, he moved for returns, which were granted, but full of mistakes. In 1837, others were granted, correcting, in some degree, those mistakes, which were principally omissions. Amongst those returns, he found the tithe commission, which was, he believed, still in force. The expense of it 810 he found to be, "as far as could be made up in the office," 3,496l. 8s. ld., including sums paid to the assistant-commissioners on account. With respect to the county-rate commission, the return had been undefined and unsettled. There had been no return as to the commission respecting the two Houses of Parliament. With respect to the commission of public works, Ireland, there had been no account or detail of any expense whatever given. The commission, on the state of religious instruction in Ireland, cost 43,031l. 7s. 9d., and yet he would beg to ask, whether the state of religious instruction was better now than when that commission had been appointed? He would contend, that it was not. The whole was a direct job, unsatisfactory in its details, and what was worse, it was to this hour unsettled. From the commission on the fees, and emoluments of public offices, no return, no account, no explanation, had been given. The inquiry into the state of revenue and expenditure in Ireland, cost 2,186l. 13s. 7d. The tithe commission, which, as he had already noticed, cost 3,496l. 8s. 1d., was still incomplete. He should like to know what had been done. The commission respecting municipal corporation inquiry in Scotland had cost 5,042l., though the Commissioners had acted gratuitously—an example which he should like to see followed by other Commissioners. The commission of education in Ireland cost 140,454l. 1s. 7d.; but of this only 114,204l. 7s. 4d. had been paid. He wished to know why the difference had not been paid. Looking at the whole of these commissions, from some of which no return had been made, and from others no satisfactory return, he had a right to call on the Government, to grant a committee of inquiry. The municipal boundary commission had cost above 21,000l., though it had turned out a total failure after all. The total amount of the expenditure of these commissions, not including the record commission, which, of itself, had cost nearly 1,000,000l., nor the expense of the registering barristers, nor the Poor-law inquiry, with its brutal adjunct of placing superintendents, as they were called, over the poor of the country, was not less than 3,000,000l. taken out of the pockets of the people, and this expenditure, let him add, was incurred by a Government, which had come into office with promises of economy and retrenchment in their mouths. 811 He would leave it to the country to decide, how those promises had been fulfilled, and how the Government had redeemed its pledges. What he sought by his motion was, to have a clear and satisfactory return of the expenses of all these commissions, and not such brief and garbled statements as had been already made. As he knew, that such a committee as he wished, could not be conveniently appointed this session, he should feel satisfied, if the right hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer, would consent to its appointment at an early period next Session. The hon. and gallant Member concluded, by moving, that a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into the various commissions issued since the year 1830, distinguishing those which had expired, and those which had been abandoned, and also those still in existence, for the purpose of ascertaining the expense of each, and the result of their inquiries, and also the reasons for which any such commissions had been discontinued.